Azerion has published new UK research suggesting that digital out-of-home advertising continues to attract rising spend, but measurement and attribution concerns are still preventing some buyers from committing more budget to the channel.
According to the study, 68% of planners and buyers said they had increased their out-of-home usage over the past year, while 61% expect to spend more over the next 12 months. A further 93% said the channel is important within their wider omnichannel strategy, pointing to continued momentum for DOOH as brands look for more connected media planning.
The main constraint, however, remains measurement. Azerion said 58% of respondents viewed measurement and attribution uncertainty as the biggest obstacle to increasing spend, ahead of the difficulty of comparing OOH with digital, social, and CTV channels at 47%, and budget constraints at 39%. The company also found that the metrics most commonly used to assess success remain upper-funnel indicators such as brand uplift, cited by 74%, and footfall, cited by 60%. Lower-funnel measures including online conversions and incrementality were used far less often, at 16% and 14% respectively.
Azerion said that gap matters because the industry may be judging DOOH with the metrics it feels most comfortable with, rather than those that show the full commercial potential of the channel. When respondents were asked what would improve confidence, 53% pointed to better cross-media measurement, 46% to more case studies demonstrating business outcomes, and 42% to improved data partnerships.
“Measurement in digital out-of-home is clearly a core concern. However, some solutions already exist but are underused, so this is partially down to perception. Continued investment in measurement infrastructure is important, but more than that, there needs to be a concerted effort to communicate and demonstrate what is already available. Building trust in these tools at scale will inject new confidence into existing DOOH markets and pave the way for the industry to drive an additional wave of spend from performance-focused planners,” said Ruth Reynolds, Insight and Strategy Director at Azerion UK.
The company also highlighted a contradiction in the data. Although measurement uncertainty was widely cited as a barrier, only 18% of respondents said they were actively dissatisfied with current OOH measurement, while 41% said they were satisfied or very satisfied and 42% were neutral. Azerion surveyed 128 respondents in February and March 2026 across agencies, brands, and media owners in the UK.
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